


Zuko's Life

by Kalifa100



Series: The Spirit's Champions [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Gen, Multi, Other, Zuko (Avatar)-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:22:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27123139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalifa100/pseuds/Kalifa100
Summary: Agni, the Spirit of the Sun, chose a son of two powerful lines, Prince Zuko.
Relationships: Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: The Spirit's Champions [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979732
Comments: 6
Kudos: 110





	1. The Choosing

The fiery Lord of Day, Agni, sat on his throne in the stronghold over the Caldera. This great hybrid of human and Dragon was in deep thought. He and the other Council of Six have decided to end the War that devastated not just the Mortal Realm, but the Spirit Realm as well. The Champions would project their Spirit’s personality, setting an example for those they serve. 

And he may have found his Champion.

He transformed fully into his draconic form, a pitch black dragon with a blood-red jewel on his chest to match his eyes. He flew to his immortal flame in the Sun Warriors’ temple. When he emerged, his last surviving children, Ran and Shaw, greeted him with their unique dance. It was a spectacle to see, even if Agni dwarfed the two thricefold. 

Once they finished, Agni lifted off the ground and flew to the Fire Nation Palace.

As he neared the capitol, he heard the screams he was looking for. He followed the sound with much vigor. He landed softly on top of the roof of the palace and listened for the cry of a newborn son. When the screams ceased, he heard not the congratulations of a new child but the scorn of a stillborn. He heard the mother dismiss everyone from the room and weep softly. 

Agni transformed into his human form. He used his agility to enter via the window. He walked to the door and opened it. The mother didn’t bother to look up.

“I thought I told you to leave,” she spoke with a weary voice.

“You told the servants to leave. And your family. Not me,” his voice was old but held enough power to give the effect he needed as he walked to the bedside. 

“Who are you?” she asked, fear in her voice.

“If you wish to know. I am Agni and I am in need of a Champion. I have chosen your son to be that Champion.”

“Th-that’s impossible. He’s stillborn.”

“That matters not.” he tells her softly. Then silently gestures to the babe. The mother hands him over. Once the babe was situated in the elder’s arms, Agni lit a gold flame and spoke to the babe, caressing him with the flame.

“Dear young child, though you are still now, you will not be at sunrise when I return home. You will be my Champion. You will carry within you my Glory, my Wisdom, my Power, and my Love. From this day further, you will be known as Zuko, half-spirit, half-human. The Phoenix. When the day comes, you will gather the others and end this war. Unlike the others, however, wou will not be alone. My wife, Nakano's Champion will be with you. Trials will be made and bonds will break, but I will never forsake you. Now Zuko, son of Ursa, I tell you to breathe.”

Agni extinguished the flame and handed the babe to the mother as he started to breathe. Ursa looked at her son then to Agni.

“Thank you, Lord Agni.” Agni bowed then retrieved his staff, turned to the door and left. Once outside, Agni transformed into a dragon once more, and returned to his Stronghold.


	2. The Visions

Prince Zuko, a young master at the tender age of 10, fourth in line to the Dragon Throne, sat at the edge of the turtle pond, meditating. Whenever he’d close his eyes, he saw many countless visions. But only ten of them really stood out to him.

The first one was about a white-haired girl covered in heavy blue clothing, trying to escape an icy prison. 

The second one was about a dark-skinned boy protecting a smaller figure from many threats, small and large. 

The third was about a flighty boy bound to the ground, longing for the freedom of wind. 

Number four was about a stringed-up girl with unseeing eyes silently rebelling.

Five was all wind and ice, an extremely blurry figure as the epicenter of the chaos.

His favorite however was the sixth one he had. At first, it was just an expressionless girl surrounded by many dark shadows. Then he met… her, and the vision became much clearer. It was him and Mai, posing to attack the surging shadows as one united front.

The next three were his least favorite. 

The seventh was a tall, armored figure clutching the smaller prone figure, sobbing in grief and anguish, hellfire and stalagmites surrounding them.

The eighth one was a tall, imposing… for lack of a better word, shadow, ascend up into a wall of fire, an elderly figure, a younger figure, and a womanly figure at the base, the elder and younger prone whilst the woman slowly fades to ash.

The ninth one was a figure kneeling on the ground begging for forgiveness to the same tall, imposing shadow as the eighth, only for the entire scene to erupt in blazing fire and screams of agony.

The tenth one was neither bad, like visions seven through nine, nor were they cryptic, like the first ones. No. Number ten was just plain confusing. An antechamber with six thrones, one made of fire, one made of obsidian, one made of ice, one made of water, one made of earth, and one made of air. All empty.

He’d see these ten everyday, all the same, except the seventh and eighth one, which was becoming more and more frequent and clearer. Zuko never told anyone about his vision except his mother and Mai, who had similar visions. 

* * *

A servant approached the young master. “Sir, your mother has summoned you.” The servant’s voice was unusually thick with emotion. Zuko stood up slowly, dread filling his gut. 

Oblivious to Zuko but not to the servant, the flames in the braziers flared with his heartbeat, and the young master moved with an unearthly grace that even the Fire Lord cannot hope to achieve. 

The Prince and the servant stopped at a set of simple but elegant doors of cedar wood. The servant opened the door for his Prince, just to see Lady Ursa in tears, clutching a scroll tightly in her hands. The Prince ran to his mother and enveloped her in his arms.

“Mother?”

“Z-uko, your co-cousin…” The Lady couldn’t finish her sentence before erupting in tears again. The Prince, confused by his mother’s odd behavior, carefully pried the scroll from her hands and skimmed through it. After a fleeting moment, tears began to leak from his face. He turned to the servant and said one single order.

“Summon Lady Mai.”


	3. The Fallout

The servants of the palace were the only ones to truly notice. Their Prince got ever quieter and his gait grew ever graceful. And unknown to the Prince, the servants were replaced spiritually by their Great Master to observe and report on his progress.

* * *

_ Three years later _

Crown Prince Zuko, now 13, with his heart broken and heavy with loss, stood at the doors to the War Council Chamber, patiently waiting. Oblivious to the young Master, the sconces framing the halls brighted and became unnaturally still for fire. When the Prince first approached with that unearthly grace, the guards straightened in deep respect.

“Prince Zuko, why are you here?” 

The owner of the voice was no other than the Dragon of the West himself, General Iroh.

“If I am to be a good Fire Lord one day, shouldn’t I be in there, learning?”

After a lot of convincing, the retired general relented.

Halfway through the meeting, a decrypt general proposed a drastically cruel plan. 

The Crown Prince felt his blood boil white-hot with fiery rage.

“You can’t sacrifice the 41st Division, they love and defend our nation. To do so is an act of utter betrayal.”

Then it all went downhill from there. Next thing he knows, he is forced into an Agni Kai. 

As the Prince knelt onto the ground as per tradition, a thought came to him.

This was one of his visions, the one with raging fire…

_ Oh, no. _

When the gong sounded, and he turned around, he froze.

Next thing he knows is that his entire left side was engulfed in flame. His face melting in the heat. He could faintly hear two other voices in his head. One voice deep and masculine, the other light, young and feminine.

Then black enveloped in his mind.

All Agni could hear through his shock was Ozai words…

“Prince Zuko is hereby banished from all Fire Nation Territories!”

… and the deafening quiet from the majority of the crowd.


End file.
